Latvians Have Become Addicted to Antibiotics: WHO Warns — But Doctors Prescribe Them?! 0 9

A Panacea for All Troubles?

In other words, approximately 29,000 residents of Latvia – theoretically, of course – consumed one therapeutic dose of antibiotics daily (!). This means that the level of antibiotic consumption not only remained high but also showed a tendency to increase.

In the outpatient sector, antibiotic consumption reached 14.14 DDD in 2025 (2.9% more than in 2024). Penicillins were the most widely used (4.80 DDD), followed by tetracyclines (3.24 DDD) and macrolides, lincosamides, and streptogramins – 2.88 DDD. A particularly rapid increase was observed in the consumption of tetracyclines – it increased by 28.6% over the year.

In turn, in hospitals, consumption increased by 1.2% (to 1.74 DDD). The highest consumption was for broad-spectrum beta-lactam antibacterial agents, including cephalosporins (0.67 DDD), penicillins (0.36 DDD), and others (0.21 DDD). At the same time, the consumption of tetracyclines in hospitals increased by 60%, while the consumption of carbapenems increased by 23%. Notably, when choosing between narrow-spectrum and broad (ultra-broad) spectrum antibiotics, the latter is increasingly preferred.

Toughening for Microbes

Such enthusiasm raises concerns primarily because the excessive use of broad-spectrum antibiotics significantly increases the risk of developing antimicrobial resistance. Simply put, pathogenic microorganisms gain the ability to survive and reproduce despite the effects of the drugs used to eliminate them.

Accordingly, managing infections that were previously relatively easy to treat with certain medications may become much more difficult in the future — up to the point of posing a threat to the patient's life. By the way, the World Health Organization (WHO) already considers antimicrobial resistance one of the most serious global threats to public health.

Slow Down, Horses!

According to data from the State Agency of Medicines (GAL), Latvia still maintains a relatively high share of so-called "first-choice" or "first-line" antibiotics — that is, medications recommended to be prescribed to a patient for the initial treatment of a specific infectious disease even before the results of the culture are obtained.

Last year, such medications accounted for 68.6% of total antibiotic consumption, exceeding the European Union target of 65%. Moreover, the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics in the country continues to grow.

Given the current situation and the fact that the European Union has set Latvia the goal of reducing antibiotic consumption to 12.6 DDD by 2030, antibiotic consumption will need to be reduced by 20.7% in the remaining period.

From the Editor

It is clear that the unjustified use of any medications is harmful to health. However, in the case of antibiotics, counter-questions arise.

First of all, because antibiotics cannot simply be purchased: they are prescribed by doctors based on certain medical indications.

Does this mean that some antibiotics are prescribed unjustifiably? If so, why?

But if all antibiotics are prescribed justifiably — how then can their consumption be reduced to meet the European Union's requirements? Should they not be prescribed to patients who actually need them?!

Or does the observation that when choosing between narrow-spectrum and broad (ultra-broad) spectrum antibiotics, the latter is increasingly preferred; not indicate that we are far from having everything in order with disease diagnostics, which is why preference is given to that very "broad spectrum"?

It would be good to clarify all this before starting a campaign for "saving" antibiotics in light of EU directives. And, of course, to strengthen measures for disease prevention — so that the population generally requires fewer medications, including antibiotics...